


Stranded

by SassyEverlarking



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-16
Updated: 2013-12-16
Packaged: 2018-01-04 19:09:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1084674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassyEverlarking/pseuds/SassyEverlarking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Procrastination and bad weather make an idiot out of Katniss Everdeen…and she’s not the only one. (Modern AU) Written for Prompts in Panem's 'Holidays in Panem' challenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stranded

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to Everlark_Pearl/mellarksloaves for being the best fanfic cheerleader a friend could ask for!

“But the people in New York  _assured_ me I’d be able make it home!” Katniss knew her voice had risen to that annoying whining level, but she was beyond caring at that point. She was angry and she really hated how the Delta employee she’d been dealing with for the past ten minutes couldn’t seem to care less.   
  
“I understand that, Miss Everdeen.” The busty blonde rolled her eyes, smacking at her gum in the bored way she’d been doing since Katniss had tromped up to the counter. “Like I’ve already told you, whatever you were told in New York is unfortunate, but not  _my_  fault.”  
  
Squeezing her hand tighter around her boarding pass, Katniss closed her eyes in aggravation. “I’m not saying it’s  _your_  fault… I just want you to find me another flight home.”  
  
The woman’s sigh was starting to sound like a broken record, much like the next thing that came out of her mouth. “All flights are canceled because of the snowstorm, Miss Everdeen.”  
  
Katniss sighed as well, a resignation seeping into it. She opened her eyes to stare sadly at the woman who had been no help to her at all. The look phased her about as much as Katniss’ whining had. She stared back expectantly, eyes wide and anything but inviting.   
  
“Is there anything else, Miss Everdeen?” The woman asked after Katniss let the silence between them stretch on a little too long. She was truly awed at how she’d been able to keep the same monotonous tone to her voice throughout their entire exchange.   
  
Realizing she wasn’t going to win this fight, Katniss gave her head a small shake. “No.” She dropped her arms from the counter. “Thank you…” For the first time, Katniss glanced at the woman’s name tag. “Glimmer.”  
  
Glimmer smiled. “Thank  _you_ , Miss Everdeen.” A sickly sweet sarcasm laced her words suddenly. Katniss narrowed her eyes at the shift in her demeanor before deciding another go around with the woman wasn’t worth her time. Even if she now had all the time in the world to bicker the evening away.  
  
Leaning over, Katniss swung the strap of her duffle bag onto her shoulder. As she straightened, she caught several pairs of eyes turning away from her. Seemed her little tirade at the ticket counter had garnered the attention of her fellow stranded passengers.   
  
‘ _Oh great_ ,’ Katniss thought to herself, blushing at the way an older woman rolled her eyes as she looked back to whatever gossip rag she was reading. ‘ _Now I’m THAT_ _person_.’ Ducking her head, Katniss clutched the strap of her bag tightly and trudged away from the counter, her boarding pass crushed between her hand and the strap.   
  
She couldn’t help her behavior too much, though. Katniss had been assured in New York that she’d be home in time for all of her family’s usual Christmas traditions. And that’s exactly what she’d told Prim. Her sister had been on her ass about waiting until last minute to book the flight. Katniss had felt so smug when she’d called Prim that morning. Prim had started to annoyingly tell her about some snowstorm, but Katniss had barely listened. Because, for once, she’d proven her sister wrong.  
  
Katniss felt the shame and embarrassment spreading throughout her entire body. Prim had been right after all. And now Katniss had to make that call and get an earful from her little sister about poor life choices…again.  
  
Pushing her way through the crowds of people milling about in various states of anger and annoyance, Katniss spotted an open spot where she could settle in. She stepped up to the unclaimed area quickly, dropping her bag down against the wood paneling that branched out from some sports bar. She flopped back against the wall, legs stuck out over her duffle.   
  
Katniss reached into the pocket of her coat. She wrapped her fingers around her phone, but didn’t pull it out right away. Instead, she closed her eyes and tried to mentally picture how the conversation she didn’t want to have was likely to go. Disappointing her sister was something she always dreaded, yet somehow always managed to accomplish.  
  
Slowly, she pulled out her phone. She released a huff of air and opened her eyes. Her fingers swiftly tapped in her passcode and opened up her recent contacts. At the very top was her sister, listed in her contacts as ‘Little Duck’. Katniss’ thumb hovered over the nickname, but she hesitated in pressing down.  
  
“If you’re trying to find a hotel, it’s pointless.”  
  
Katniss flinched in surprise at the distinctly male voice coming just behind her left shoulder. She whipped her head around, her eyes going wide as she took in who the voice belonged to. Leaning against the entryway to the sports bar, all stocky build and mussed blonde hair, was the last person she ever expected to see.  
  
“They’re booked solid.” His voice was deeper than she remembered, but the crooked smile he flashed her way before taking a sip from the beer in his hand was so achingly familiar.  
  
“Peeta!” Katniss gasped. She pushed herself off the wall and spun to face him fully. The years since she had last seen him had been good to him…Really, _really_  good to him.  
  
Peeta nodded his head in greeting. “Hey Katniss.” The smile on his face was warm and inviting.  
  
“What are you doing here?” Katniss asked, her tone matching the shocked look she was sure she was sporting.   
  
“Well, I was watching some crazy woman that I just happened to go to school with berate the poor Delta employee over there…” He pointed with his beer over her shoulder. Katniss glanced that way and immediately her face flushed in embarrassment when she realized he was pointing at the counter she had just come from. When she looked back around, Peeta was smirking playfully.   
  
“But then she stopped doing that and made her way over here, and I figured I should say ‘hi’…” He shrugged. “Since I know her and all that.”  
  
Katniss put her hand up to cover her eyes. “You saw that?” She muttered.  
  
Peeta laughed. It gave her the same jolt of joy it had throughout all the years they’d gone to school together. “Katniss, everyone saw that.”   
  
She groaned, dropping her hand to give him a sheepish look.   
  
“Of course it was nice to see that some things truly never change.” He winked at her. “Katniss Everdeen, still standing out in a crowd.”  
  
This time, the blush on her face wasn’t entirely out of embarrassment. “I can’t believe you’re here, right now, giving me shit like we’re back in high school.” She laughed disbelievingly.   
  
“This might be a little hard to hear, but…” Peeta leaned in closer to her, eyes alight with mischief. “But you’re not the only person trying to get home for Christmas.”   
  
She squinted at him, scowling. It only caused him to grin. He leaned back, taking another pull from the bottle in his hand.   
  
Katniss rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well…nobody’s going anywhere now.” She looked to her phone, which she still had sitting in her hand waiting to be used. “Trapped at a damn layover airport because I’m an idiot.”  
  
“Guess that makes two of us.” She looked up at him as his self-deprecating words. “Though in all honesty, those Delta people in New York  _are_  damn convincing in their sales pitch.”  
  
Her mouth fell open a fraction. “You flew out of New York too?” At his nod, she squinted her eyes again. “Wait, were we on the same flight?”  
  
Peeta shrugged and drained the rest of his beer. “I’m gonna get another one of these.” He held the bottle up and shook it for emphasis. “Seeing as we’re stuck here waiting, I figured it wouldn’t be so horrible to be a little less sober while doing it.” He lowered the empty bottle and swept his free hand in the direction of the bar. “Care to join me?”  
  
Katniss stared at him for a moment, taking in the gentle plea in his blue eyes. They were just as friendly and beautiful as they had been when they were seventeen. Definitely a little wiser. But still the same eyes she would see in her teenage dreams. The eyes she sometimes found herself thinking about at random times when she pondered the what ifs and could have beens.  
  
Pocketing her phone, Katniss quirked a smile. “So you gonna tell me why you stalked me out of New York?”  
  
——  
  
They were being a bit too loud, but Katniss couldn’t find it in her to want or care to tone down her laughter. She hadn’t felt this carelessly happy in a long time. Considering she was stuck in an airport due to a snowstorm just days away from Christmas, that was quite an accomplishment. Catching up with Peeta Mellark was something she hadn’t realized she needed so much.  
  
Peeta’s face was flush from the beer and laughter. “Oh god, remember when Gale Hawthorne went streaking across the football field at the homecoming game?!”   
  
Giggling, Katniss nodded vigorously. “Kinda hard to forget since I was the one who put him up to it.”    
  
Peeta’s mouth fell open. “No!”  
  
“Oh yeah!” Katniss took a sip from her beer and nodded again. “He had dragged me along to that thing because he was so sprung on Madge Undersee and just  _had_  to see her get crowned as the queen.” She shook her head. “Of course we ended up getting totally stoned behind the gym during the second quarter and it’s so easy to talk Gale into  _anything_  when he’s high as a kite.”  
  
Peeta grinned, though it was a softer sort of grin this time. “I’ve always loved that you were an against the grain kind of girl.”  
  
She ducked her head and smiled. “You’re right…some things don’t change at all.” When Katniss glanced up at him briefly, he was watching her with his eyebrows raised expectantly. “You’re as much of a shameless flirt as you ever were.”  
  
“Is it working?” Peeta asked without a hint of cockiness in his voice.  
  
Katniss dropped her gaze again and shrugged. “Maybe.”  
  
When she looked up again, Peeta’s expression was intimate and warm. “Then some things  _do_  change a little, huh?”  
  
Blushing, Katniss looked out towards the row of seats across from the bar in order to avoid staring at those eyes that had haunted her since adolescence. She almost knocked her stool over she stood up so fast when she noticed something different in the otherwise unchanging scene. “The chairs by the outlet are empty!”  
  
Peeta quickly followed her line of sight to the chairs they had been scoping out for almost as long as they’d been catching up. “Shit!” He jumped up from his own stool, fumbling in the back pocket of his jeans for his wallet. “Quick, run over there and snatch them before another family of twelve swoops in.”  
  
Katniss moved away from table quickly, but then turned back to him. “What about the bill and my stuff?”  
  
He waved his hands outwards urgently. “I got it! Go, go!” He laughed. It was infectious, and Katniss found herself almost shrieking in inappropriate excitement as she sprinted around unsuspecting people and all but slid into the empty row of chairs. She threw herself down and stretched out across them just as a rather displeased looking woman came stepping up to them.  
  
“Oh, these are taken.” Katniss said breathlessly, trying her best not to burst out laughing at the glare the woman was giving her. She managed to hold it in as the woman turned away in a huff, but it came flying past her lips as Peeta threw his hands up on the air and ‘whooped’ in triumph from where he was still standing at their table in the bar.  
  
——  
  
“I can’t believe we’ve been in New York at the same time all this time and have never run into each other.” Katniss mused quietly. She played with the fingers on Peeta’s left hand gently, letting her fingertips run over the skin made rough from years of baking and painting. She was lethargic after all the beer and excitement, and leaning back against Peeta was proving to be a comfort in a category all by itself.  
  
He tucked the soft blanket he’d bought at the store not far from where they sat tighter around them. “Especially when we both know the whirlwind that is Finnick Odair.” The gentle laughter that followed vibrated against her back and made her smile.   
  
They had been talking for hours, about the past and things far more recent. The beers had loosened their tongues, and the reminiscing and relearning had brought them close…quite literally. Peeta had told her all about him forgoing his parents dreams for him to attend college back home for business, so he could take over the family bakery. Against the wishes of his parents, and what was possibly better judgement, he’d packed up his stuff and moved to New York to explore the life of being an artist. Katniss had told him about her desire to be a writer, and how she lived in a tiny loft while she wrote articles for a shitty little paper run by a surly old drunk.   
  
It turned out they had been living in the same world, knowing the same type of people and doing the same type of things…and yet, they’d always managed to miss each other. A rather unusual cruelty when they had spent most of high school circling around something more than friendship.  
  
With that very thought in mind, Katniss turned in Peeta’s lap. He stared down at her with half-lidded, drowsy gaze. Pushing herself up with a hand on his thigh, she pressed her lips to his. The blonde stubble covering his jaw brushed at her face as she kissed him softly. Peeta shifted, bringing his hand to the side of her neck. He pressed back against her lips, deepening the kiss by sweeping his tongue into her mouth.  
  
Katniss whimpered softly at the sensation, moving her hand up into his hair at the back of his head and grasping firmly at the thick strands. They stayed like that, kissing for several long moments. It wasn’t until someone nearby cleared their throat discretely that the two pulled apart, a quiet wet sound severing the connection of their lips.  
  
Once again, all eyes were on Katniss. She could feel the stares, but she cared even less then she had when they were laughing it up in the bar.  
  
Peeta rested his forehead against hers, his eyes still hooded. They definitely weren’t as drowsy anymore, however. “First off, I’ve waited a long fucking time to do that.” Katniss let out a small, quiet laugh, nodding to indicate the same.   
  
“Secondly…” Peeta pressed a sweet little kiss to her lips. “I’m so glad we’re both idiots and procrastinators and waited until last minute to go home for the holidays.”

 


End file.
